


Road Trip: Revenge of The Book Nerds

by korryn24



Series: Batfamily Just. Being a Family. [3]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU, DCU (Comics)
Genre: Batfamily (DCU), Batfamily Dynamics (DCU), Gen, Road Trips, it's literally just duke and jason bonding over books
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-04
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-17 13:28:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29842221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/korryn24/pseuds/korryn24
Summary: It's not necessary to read part one to understand this, this is just Duke and Jason talking about books for 800 words. In other words, it's my excuse to rant about the injustice done to Zelda Sayre. Do I actually think both Duke and Jason realistically would both have read her book? No, literally no one has. But I'm projecting, so let me be :)
Relationships: Duke Thomas & Jason Todd
Series: Batfamily Just. Being a Family. [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2184015
Comments: 5
Kudos: 22





	Road Trip: Revenge of The Book Nerds

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to Acxa Kogane for the kidnapping inspo :) Also, go check out her fic, "Where The Light Doesn't Reach" it's literally everything.

“Piece of shit,” Jason muttered under his breath, gripping the wheel so tightly that his knuckles turned white. “How dare they.”

Duke was sitting in the passenger seat of Jason’s car. He scratched the back of his head. “Uh, Jay? Not to interrupt your grumbling, but where are we going? And why?”

Jason shot him an angry glare. “Nowhere. And none of your business.”

“Well, seeing as you pulled up outside of  _ my  _ school twenty minutes ago and told me to get in, it sort of is my business. I think you kidnapped me,” Duke’s eyes widened. “Oh my god, did you kidnap me?”

“No,” Jason sighed. “Steph, Tim, Cass, Dick, and Damian went on a road trip without us. We’re getting revenge by going on a road trip without them.”

“Kind of sounds like you just want to spend time with me.”

Jason gave him another pointed glare (maybe Duke should keep count) and turned up the radio. Yeah, he definitely just wanted to spend time with Duke.

It was a Friday afternoon, the first day of Winter break, and this wasn’t how Duke had planned to spend it. He wasn’t necessarily complaining, though; if he had to spend several hours trapped in a car with one of his siblings, it might as well be Jason. They got along okay. The two didn’t talk very much, and Duke wasn’t sure they had a lot in common, but at least they didn’t try to kill each other all the time like some of their other siblings.

Duke pulled a book out of his schoolbag. He didn’t want to be bored, but he didn’t want to put his headphones in either. He was afraid that might be rude, and Duke did not want to insult Jason. He was kind of a scary dude.

“What are you reading?” Jason asked, glancing away from the road.

“It’s a collection of T.S. Eliot’s poetry. I, uh, like poetry.”

Jason nodded. “Cool. I’ve read some of his stuff.”

“You have?” Duke looked up in surprise.

“Yeah. Not much of a poetry guy, but I gotta admit, his stuff’s considered a classic for a reason.”

“You… you read?”

“No, I’m fucking illiterate,” He said. “Yes, I read. Don’t act so surprised.”

“Sorry, that came out wrong. It’s just… I didn’t expect… What do you like to read?”

“I like a lot of the classics. Shakespeare, Dickens, Jane Austen. That kind of thing.” He paused before turning the volume on the radio down and adding, “What about you?”

“I’ve read some modern adaptations of classics. The originals are just kind of… hard to get through. The stories are good; it’s just kind of boring. I prefer modern fiction. I read a lot of sci-fi and fantasy.”

“Never really got into sci-fi, but fantasy’s cool. Mystery, too, you ever read Agatha Christie?”

Duke shook his head.

“It’s easier to get through than most other classics,” Jason continued. “Totally worth it.”

There was an awkward silence. This was the most they had spoken before, and Duke didn’t want to let it go to waste. “You ever read Save Me The Waltz by Zelda Sayre?”

“Yeah, actually, it’s good. Way better than Tender is The Night; honestly, she was a much better writer than Fitzgerald.” Jason turned the radio completely off now.

“Yeah! And she never got the recognition she deserved. All the reviews of her book when it first came out were so bad; it’s bullshit!”

“Fitzgerald literally plagiarized some of her writing and got really good reviews! The whole thing just reeks of misogyny.”

“Fitzgerald was kind of an asshole.”

Jason grunted his agreement. Another silence. God, they really sucked at this.

Duke actually considered himself to be pretty good at talking to people; Jason was just… intimidating. “So… Why did they go on a road trip without us?”

“Don’t know. Steph put in the group chat that she could only take four other people, but it was apparently random who she picked. You didn’t see?”

“To be honest, I’ve had that group chat on do not disturb for weeks now.”

“Fair.” Jason flicked on his turn signal, the repetitive clicking and the soft rushing of the AC now the only sound in the car. Another goddamn silence. Why couldn’t Duke just keep the conversation going? This was so awkward. He should say something.

“Do you have a plan, or are we just driving nowhere?” He tried.

“I don’t know; I’ve just been tailing Steph this whole time. Stuck a tracker on her car before she left. We’re like three miles behind them.”

“Christ, of course, you did. Nevermind that that’s technically illegal.”

“Hey, it’s not illegal if—”

“If you don’t get caught, yeah, I know.” Duke finished with a grin.

“Huh, looks like they’re stopping,” He said, looking at what Duke had assumed to be a regular GPS this whole time. “How do you feel about McDonald’s?”

**Author's Note:**

> bhdfgifi everyday i think about zelda sayre and everyday i boil with anger over what fitzgerald did to her. anyway, i hope y'all enjoyed, it's another really short one while i work on something a bit longer.


End file.
